Andre Ho Olympic racquet sports Q&A

Richmond table tennis star aims to lay it all on the table at Summer Games

Canadian table tennis player Andre Ho in action. The Richmond native will represent Canada at the 2012 London Olympics.

Photograph by: Peter Scudner photo
, PNG files

I started playing table tennis when I was around 7½. My dad really likes to play. He had a table in the basement and I just kind of got interested from there. I just started to play a little bit. I guess I played for about a year just for fun. I played in my first Canadian national championship when I was maybe around eight. I won four gold medals. That was probably a big reason why I decided to play the sport, I guess.

My parents are originally from China. They emigrated to Canada maybe about 30 years ago. I was born in Vancouver so I am fully Canadian. I was born and raised in Richmond.

What people don't realize about table tennis is it's a lot harder than it seems when we are playing and that we need to travel a lot to improve our game. We need to fly to Asia, Europe. We need to go to many places to train and play in competitions. So it's not so easy for us for either school or just, honestly for me, I'm almost never home. It's really hard on the body and also on the mind sometimes.

I think home is probably the best place. I would say in the whole year, I was probably two months at home. After Grade 10, I started doing online studying. It obviously took me a little extra time. I really have to manage the time very well because it's hard to manage between training and studying. Sometimes right after you are done training, you don't want to go right to studying because you are really tired from training. All athletes have to go through it.

Right now, I am playing fulltime. I play around four to six hours a day. We train about six days a week. We just need to be really dedicated to the thing that we really want. I know that I want to be as fit as I can in this sport.

I think our sport has a lot of ups and downs. We have good moments. We have bad moments. Sometimes in the bad moments, it can be really hard because it is an individual sport. We get recognition when it is good for ourselves but we also get a lot of fault because we are also playing by ourselves.

I think the best thing that has ever happened to me as an athlete is I have had the opportunity to travel to so many places to play at either competition or training and I feel for me, that is probably the best thing because not everyone has that opportunity. It came not only from Table Tennis Canada but also from my parents because many times, our association cannot fund me for every single tournament so I also need to rely on my parents a lot. I am very fortunate to have them.

For my last meal before a competition, I don't like to eat anything too heavy or greasy. Nothing too fried. But I don't have anything that I have to eat before I play but nothing too heavy I guess.

When I'm not training or competing I want to be home. Maybe in the backyard or on the balcony. Just enjoying the weather.

If I wasn't an athlete I don't know what I would be. I would probably be working hard on my studies.

My favourite music is hip hop, although I like pretty much all kinds of music.

Something people don't know about me is I seem kind of shy, but at the same time, if somebody gets to know me well, I am not so shy. I am pretty outgoing.

My Olympics will be a success if I have the right preparation and the right mindset for the matches.

• B.C. ATHLETES:

ANDRE HO

Birthdate: April 11, 1992

Hometown: Richmond

Event: Singles, team

Career highlight: He secured the spot on his first Olympic team with a five-game win over Canadian teammate Pierre-Luc Hinse of Gatineau in April at the first North American qualifying tournament.

TOBIAS NG

Birthdate: Oct. 8, 1985

Hometown: Vancouver

Sport: Badminton

Event: Mixed doubles (July 28 to Aug. 3)

Career highlight: Won gold at the 2011 Pan Am Games with Grace Gao, whom he'll partner with in London.

• ABOUT TABLE TENNIS (July 28-Aug. 8):

• Table tennis made its Olympic debut at the 1988 Games in Seoul, Korea. Since the sport joined the program, China has won 20 of a possible 24 gold medals.

• Of the four nations - China, Germany, Singapore and South Korea - that medalled in table tennis at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, only China won gold.

• China won eight of the possible 12 medals available in 2008.

• Table tennis is played on a table that is, according to www. london2012.com, 2.74 metres long and 1.525 metres wide. The court is 18 metres by nine metres. The ball weighs in at just 2.7 grams.

• Singles matches are played in a best-of-seven games format. Competitors need to score 11 points and have a two-point advantage in order to win one game.

• Team matches consist of four singles and one doubles match, in a best-of-five games format. A winner is declared when a team wins three individual matches.

• There are 172 table tennis competitors at the London 2012 Olympics - 86 men and 86 women.

• There are four medal events, which means there are 12 medals available.

• Canada has yet to win a medal in table tennis since the sport joined the Olympics 24 years ago.

• Johnny Huang finished fifth at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the highest finish for a Canadian in table tennis.

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